Winning Souls - the Key is Love and Joy

Ever since His Holiness Pope Francis published the encyclical Gaudium Evangelii (The Joy of the Gospel), the concept of evangelism has been rattling around in my head. I have a great zeal for evangelizing, but what can I do? I am an obscure person, a bit on the margins of society, never married, no family, and a few friends. How can I have any effect on the conversion of anyone?

I looked back on those times when I did have success in bringing people to the true and holy Catholic faith. Most of my success has been with lapsed/apostate Catholics or just plain old secularists/agnostics. I have been thinking about what worked. There was not anything specific that I could determine. Here are some common threads:

1. I saw each one as a soul that Jesus Christ loves. I tried to see them through the eyes of Jesus. I genuinely cared about each one of them (Luke 15:7). Some of these converts/reverts are still my very good friends.
2. I kept the lines of communications open. I always told the truth about the Faith as accurately as possible, but with charity (Ephesians 4:15). This meant that I studied the faith, the Bible, the Church documents, the Catechism.
3. I didn't badger them or argue with them. I just answered their questions as best I could. I tried to show the reasonableness of the Catholic Church.
4. I listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and let God use me as an instrument of communication. Often I have just blurted out something without thinking, and I wonder, where did that come from? It turns out to be exactly what a person needed to hear.
5. Above all, I try as much as possible to set a good example of a Catholic in my conduct and dealing with others.

So those are some of the things I have done to evangelize. They seem to work.You really don't have to persuade people much or hard-sell. The truth of the Catholic Faith is its own best advertisement.

I also like the Six Rules for Dealing with Non-Catholic Family and Friends developed by the former Baptist and Catholic Apologist Steve Ray. He has some great videos on evangelization. Check out his website Catholic-Convert.com.